The present invention relates in general to wireless distribution of audio tracks, and, more specifically, to automatic playback of audio tracks according to a cadence associated with the activity or surroundings of the user.
Wireless communication service providers, such as cellular or PCS providers, have introduced many new desirable services and the capabilities of the network infrastructure and the user terminals have advanced. For example, cellular handsets are now available having audio storage, processing, and reproduction capabilities similar to many standalone personal music players, such as mp3 players. The user carries only one device to serve as a cellular phone and music player.
To help the user take advantage of the audio player capabilities of their cellular phone, cellular service providers have introduced music distribution services through which the user can download audio tracks to their phone/player. In addition to purchasing song downloads individually, subscription services are being offered that allow unlimited downloads and/or live streaming of audio tracks from playlists or quasi-radio stations. As data transport capacity and speed have increased, it has also become feasible to stream purchased or subscription tracks over the network each time is it listened to instead of storing it in the user terminal.
Users of music players and music services frequently create playlists of tracks that are associated with particular situations or events so that only tracks selected to be in the playlist are heard when the user activates the playlist. For example, many people enjoy listening to music during athletic workouts, such as jogging and bicycling. A playlist to be used during a particular type of workout can include audio tracks chosen for their pace (e.g., tempo measured in beats per minute). For example, a playlist to be used while traversing a bicycling route can include tracks with a fast tempo. Alternatively, a playlist may correspond to a landmark or location (e.g., slow, peaceful audio tracks on a playlist to be used while hiking a nature trail). The occasions for which a playlist is defined and the tracks meeting the criteria for inclusion on the playlist can be arbitrarily defined by the user, or they may include stock playlists defined by the service provider using ordinary criteria.
Manually selecting playlists often becomes inconvenient during quickly changing situations or where the user is too preoccupied to easily make a new selection. Continuing with the bicycling example, the user may cycle over a route that passes through different upward and downward slopes along with level sections. They may be expending a high level of effort while moving relatively slowly (e.g., traversing up a steep slope) or moving quickly with low effort (e.g., gliding down a hill), with the appropriate playlist for each part of the route having songs of a corresponding tempo. Also during the route, they may pass by a particular landmark and want to listen to another playlist that was not set up based on the tempo. However, it can be undesirable to attempt to change playlists to follow the changing situation while engaged in an activity.